


Sign of the Times

by debargein



Category: Ghostbusters (2016)
Genre: Angst, Coming Out, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Eventual Smut, F/F, Fluff, Reader-Insert
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-04-19
Updated: 2017-04-26
Packaged: 2018-10-21 06:16:36
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,048
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10679415
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/debargein/pseuds/debargein
Summary: You leave an abusive household and find yourself with nowhere to go. After walking aimlessly you spend the night in the shelter provided by the door to the firehouse. The next morning you are welcomed with open arms by Patty who takes you in so you can clean yourself up.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Hey so this is getting put on hold bc my life is falling apart but I promise I will get come back and finish it!!

Standing in front of your mom's closed bedroom door, you take a deep breath.

"Okay, I can do this. What's the worst that could happen?" you mumble as you exhale.

You knock, once, twice, and wait for muffled footsteps. Nothing. You knock again, praying she isn't already passed out drunk. After what feels like an eternity, you hear your mom slowly make her way to the door.

"What the fuck do you want" she spits as she throws the door open.

"I... U-ummm.. I w-wanted to talk to you, mom. There's something I n-need to tell you" you manage to choke out.

"Well make it quick! I'm going out and I don't have time to deal with you, too."

Tears already threatening to spill, you build up the courage to say the three words that have been dancing in your head for weeks.

"Mom, I'm gay."

"WHAT?! A FAG IN MY HOUSE? NO. No no no this is unacceptable" she hollers as she pushes you back, past your room, straight to the front door.

"Mom! Please! Stop!"

Your plee goes unnoticed. Your mom pushes you out the door and before you can even turn around you hear the lock click. Feeling defeated, you press your back to the door and slide down. Tears slowly creep their way down your cheeks and you feel your whole body shake as you finally let out a sob. 

"What am I going to do?" You whisper to no one in particular. 

"Where am I going to go?" You mouth as the knot in your throat steals your voice. 

You sit there crying, losing track of time. 

"Move it, faggot!" 

Your mom kicks your side and you tumble down the few stairs to the sidewalk. She prances away like she just cured cancer, you think to yourself. You lay on the sidewalk for a few minutes before deciding there's no point in hanging around and enduring anymore from that woman. 

You slowly get up and start walking. With no direction, no purpose, just walking in hopes of creating a plan. Call a friend? I do have my phone... No, they won't want to be bothered. You solemnly sigh at the thought.

You walk until your legs are numb. You glance up as a stranger nearly clips your shoulder and realize you have no idea where you are anymore. You quickly take in your surroundings and feel your panic start to rise.

"The sun is setting. All I have is my phone and my wallet. I have no place to sleep" you whimper as panicked thoughts race through your head. 

Scanning the buildings around you, you spot a somewhat shielded spot at the door to a firehouse. Making sure the few people around aren't paying you any attention, you run across the street to it.

"This'll have to do" you grumble as you plop down right against the cold door.

You curl into yourself and pray that you make it to morning without incident. Tears make their way back into your tired eyes and trickle down your face as you eventually fall asleep.

\------------------

"What the hell?! Baby? Please answer! Patty don't do dead bodies and Holtzy ain't here."

You're startled awake by a tall woman standing over you. You try to scoot away and instantly regret your choice of sleeping quarters when you make contact with the wall behind you. 

"Shit, sorry baby, I didn't mean to scare you!" The woman, who you assume to be Patty, reaches a hand down to help you up.

"Ohthat'sokayI'lljustbegoingnowsorry" you feel yourself say in a rush as you try to duck by her. 

"At least come in and have somethin to eat, I brought donuts! Holtzy will eat most of them and with your help we can limit her sugar high!" Patty chuckled. 

You just stand there staring, unsure if you should accept the offer or not. Involuntarily your stomach growls and Patty takes that as a yes as she unlocks the door to the firehouse. 

"You comin or what?" She turns to look at you. You slowly make your way over and timidly follow her in.

"The others'll be here in a bit, you can use the shower before they get here and then we can all have some donuts, okay baby?" She says in a quieter voice. 

"Oh- thank you but I don't have any clothes or like, toiletries, so.." your sentence drifts off and so does your gaze as you feel a wave of embarrassment wash over you.

"No worries, baby, Patty gotchu, follow me" she says with a warm smile as she heads to the stairs.

You both make your way up the stairs, pausing on the second floor.

"This is Dr. Frankenstein's lab... Don't touch nothin in here. Holtzy likes to leave all sorts of dangerous stuff lyin around; we talkin nuclear, radioactive, all that shit" she sighs but you can see the admiration in her eyes.

You keep on the stairs and end up on the third floor. You gasp at the state of the room, overwhelmed by the clothes strewn about and the beat up mattress on the floor. Who on earth can stand this mess? You're pulled away from your thoughts by Patty's roar of laughter. Quickly closing your mouth, which you didn't realize was open in shock, you turn to Patty for an explanation.

"Again, Holtz" she states simply.

You notice yourself becoming very interested in meeting this wild Holtz character, especially since she's the only one Patty has mentioned by name.

"Who all works here with you?"

"Well, there's Abby, she's a physicist, and so is Erin, Holtzy is an engineer, and Kevin is our receptionist but he's better for lookin at than answerin the phone" she quickly rambles.

"What do you do?" You ask shyly.

"Oh! Well I'm not a doctor like the other girls but I know New York and I'm pretty good with the history part of all this."

"Oh.. What do you guys do?" 

"Shit, baby! You don't know? We're the Ghostbusters!"

"The... Ghostbusters?"

"Yeah! If you ain't got a place you gotta be then maybe we can show you how we roll" she replies with that warm smile returning to her face.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> You have an awkward meeting with Holtzmann, you're flustered by her flirting, excited about coffee and donuts, and a bit unsure of yourself.
> 
> Thrift shopping with Patty and Holtz followed by tears and pizza. You just might've stumbled upon a new family.

"The gang'll be here in about an hour. Feel free to use anything you need and I'll be right downstairs." Patty says as she hands you some mismatched clothes and a towel.

You say thanks as you close the bathroom door. You lay the clothes and towel on the counter and turn to turn on the shower, getting it to just the right level of scalding. You go to strip out of your grimy clothes but pause when you see your bag hanging at your side. You don't remember grabbing it before you tried talking to your mom but you don't care as you dump it's contents on the bathroom floor, spotting travel sized deodorant, toothbrush, and toothpaste.

"No brush, damn" you quietly scold your past self.

\------------------

After you shower and dress in the strange assortment of clothes, you head downstairs. The smell of coffee floats up to you when you reach the second floor and you pause, reminded of home for half a second.

"Come here often?"

Your head whips around as your jolted out of your thoughts.

"I- oh sorry, I didn't realize anyone was here. Patty let me shower and I was just..." you leave your sentence unfinished as the blonde makes her way over to you.

"Jillian Holtzmann, at your service" she extends a hand out.

Hesitantly you shake it. You feel your face flush and you can't bring yourself to meet her blue eyes. You hope Patty will come save you.

No luck.

"Weeeell... what's your name cutie?"

You're caught off guard by the pet name. You glance up from staring holes through your feet and you're met with a dimpled smile and a wink

"M-my name? Oh! I-it's (Y/N)."

"(Y/N), huh? I've heard terrible things about you" she says as she throws her arm around your shoulders.

"Let's go get some donuts!" she hollers as she pulls you down the stairs with her.

"HOLTZ! STOP YELLING!" A voice booms up the handful of stairs left for the two of you to descend. 

"Abby thinks I'm too loud" Holtz says with a chuckle and an overdramatic eye roll.

You and Holtz make your way into the kitchen where the other three women are discussing something about.. ley lines? You have no idea what they're talking about, but thankfully the conversation doesn't last long due to Holtz loudly clearing her throat.

"Guys, this is (Y/N), she is in dire need of coffee and donuts!" she announces.

"Hi there, I'm Erin" the redhead says as a shy smile dances on her face.

"I'm Abby" the shorter woman tells you as she hands you a warm mug and a chocolate frosted donut.

You welcome the distraction and gladly accept them.

"So Patty said you don't have anywhere to go and that you're staying here" Erin states.

"U-uh" you struggle to find a reply, anxiety building in your chest.

"Wasn't a question. You can have the third floor-"

"WHERE WILL I SLEEP?" Holtz interrupts.

"-bedroom. YOU-" she turns to Holtz with an accusatory finger, "-can sleep at home, or in the lab, or wherever else, I don't really care, as long as you stay out of (Y/N)'s space." Erin finishes with a huff. 

Holtz pretends to pout at Erin then turns and winks at you. Erin, obviously annoyed at Holtzmann's antics, stomps off to what you assume is her desk.

"Don't mind her, she's just grumpy because she knows I'm right about the ley lines." Abby says with a mouthful of donut. "Well, I've got work to do."

You watch Abby walk away for a moment before turning back to Patty and Holtz, who had started a quiet argument unbeknownst to you.

"-please Patty, I promise I won't test anything on her!" Holtz whines.

"WAIT. What? What did I miss?" Your panicked gaze going back and forth between the two remaining Ghostbusters. 

They both bust into a fit of giggles and yet again, you feel your cheeks warm with embarrassment. 

"Calm down, baby, Holtz just wants you to hang around her lab today. I have other plans, though, seeing as you don't have no clothes." Patty explains.

Both you and Holtz give Patty a confused look. 

"We're goin shoppin!" Patty exclaims. 

"Oh, no, you really don't have to do that Patty" you try to protest.

"Oh! Can I come?!" Holtz's face lights up.

"Sure, Holtzy. But please go make sure nothing in your lab is due to explode while we're gone" Patty instructs Holtz. 

As Holtz bounds up the stairs, Patty turns to you and leans in close, speaking in a whisper.

"Whatever you need I'll make sure you have it, baby. I can tell you've never been away from home like this before and as someone who's been there, I'm not gonna let you fall through the cracks... How old are you anyways, (Y/N)?"

"I'm twenty-two.." you mumble.

"Let's go!" Holtz hoots, flying past you and Patty, right out the front door.

Patty puts an arm around you and you both head out to the Ecto-1 where Holtz is waiting with Rhythm of the Night blasting through the open windows.

\------------------

The three of you drop your bags off in the car before making your way down to the pizzeria, spotted by Holtz on your way to the thrift store nearly three hours ago. You honestly aren't very hungry but after Holtz and Patty persistently making you try on nearly everything in the store, you are more happy to sit down. You all stumble in and Patty goes to order while Holtz and you find an empty booth near the back. You both sit down and Holtz leans across the table until she's right up in your face.

"So what's your deal? Why were you sleepingin our doorway?" The blonde inquires.

Patty slides onto the bench next to Holtz as you begin talking.

"My mom kicked me out, and my friends don't really care if I'm around or not so I just started walking and.. yeah" you finish before any tears can fall.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for all the positive feedback! It means the world to me and as always, suggestions, requests, and constructive criticism is welcome!

**Author's Note:**

> Suggestions are welcomed and any comments are highly appreciated!
> 
> Thanks for reading!!


End file.
